System and method for using geographical locations to provide access to  product information

ABSTRACT

A current geographic location of a mobile device, such as a smart phone, tablet computer, or the like, is used to customize a selection guide that is used to retrieve product related information. The product related information generally provides details about one or more products meeting one or more criteria specified via use of the customized selection guide.

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No.62/206,012, filed on Aug. 17, 2015, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The subject matter within this disclose is also related to the subjectmatter disclosed in commonly assigned, U.S. application Ser. No.13/796,517, filed on Mar. 12, 2013, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Product selection guides are useful, general search tools that allow auser to perform a navigational search. More particularly, a selectionguide allows a user to search for a product by iteratively selecting aparameter where each selection causes search results to be reduced byfiltering out products whose characteristics do not match the selectedparameter(s) while, at the same time, presenting a corresponding reducedset of parameters with which the next search parameter(s) can beselected. Typically, this approach assumes that the customer issearching within an entire line of products, e.g., fasteners or lightbulbs, that are stored in a database using a predefined hierarchicalstructure or taxonomy.

Another common web search paradigm, called direct search, allows usersto search for products by entering a list of keywords into the searchinterface, and the search results will display all products which areassociated with one or more of the entered keywords. The twoparadigms—navigational search and direct search—can be combined to forma third search paradigm called faceted search. This paradigm allowssearch along multiple dimensions, with a narrowing of scope along eachdimension. This approach has become popular in ecommerce and libraryapplications.

It has been seen, however, that these basic search paradigms bythemselves are inefficient because they are not inherently personalizedto the user or the user's current purpose or role in an enterprise. As aresult, these basic search paradigms make it hard for customers to findwhat they need as the search results often present products that areirrelevant to the customer. For example, a search query may cause a 50Hz motor to be provided in a search result when the customer's site isonly wired for 60 Hz electricity. Accordingly, a need exists for asearch paradigm that takes the customer context into consideration,particularly the physical context, to thereby do a better job of helpingcustomers find what they need.

SUMMARY

The following describes a system and method that uses a currentgeographic location of a mobile device, such as a smart phone, tabletcomputer, or the like, to retrieve lists of and/or to facilitate thesearching for one or more products, product related services, and/orother product related information (such as images, notes, inventory,etc.) (individually and collectively referred to herein as “items”)using information that generally pertains to the current geographiclocation. The retrieved lists/search results provide details about theitems and preferably include a user interface element for allowing,among other things, items to be ordered, e.g., for delivery/shipment tothe current geographic location, to another geographic location, and/orfor pickup at a given location.

A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, propertiesand relationships of the systems and methods described hereinafter willbe obtained from the following detailed description and accompanyingdrawings which set forth illustrative embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the system and method for associating itemlists with geographical locations described hereinafter reference may behad to preferred embodiments shown in the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram on an exemplary mobile device in anexemplary system in which item lists are associated with geographicallocations;

FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary methods for obtaining geographic locationinformation for use in the system of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3-7 illustrate screen shots of exemplary user interfaces presentedby the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 illustrates a data table storing information for lamp products;

FIG. 9 illustrates a data table storing lamp type information;

FIG. 10 illustrates a data table storing lamp voltage information;

FIG. 11 illustrates a data table storing lamp wattage information;

FIG. 12 illustrates a data table storing lamp base type information;

FIG. 13 illustrates a data table storing lamp shape information;

FIG. 14 illustrates a data table storing lamp technology typeinformation;

FIG. 15 illustrates a data table storing lamp color information;

FIG. 16 illustrates a data table storing lamp brand or manufacturerinformation;

FIG. 17 illustrates a data table storing location related information;

FIG. 18 illustrates a data table storing beacon related information;

FIG. 19 illustrates a data table storing beacon-location mappinginformation;

FIG. 20 illustrates a data table storing beacon-lighting mappinginformation which links lighting products to beacons and which includesany additional information that might be desired to be kept about therelationship;

FIG. 21 illustrates a portion of a conventional selection guide; and

FIG. 22 illustrates a portion of a geo-aware selection guide.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to the figures, exemplary systems and methods forassociating one or more item lists with a geographical location are nowdescribed.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary system forassociating one or more item lists with a geographical location. As willbe described in greater detail hereinafter, the system includes a mobiledevice 10, such as a smart phone, tablet computing device, or the like,which may communicate, as necessary, with a server device 12, having anassociated data repository 12A. Communications between the mobile device10 and server device 12 may be made via a network 14, such as a localarea network and/or a wide area network. As further illustrated in FIG.1, the mobile device 10 preferably includes components that areconventionally included in a mobile computing device such as, by way ofexample only, a user interface component 16 (e.g., a touch screendisplay), a communications device 18 (e.g., RF, IR, and/or otherprotocol type receiver, transmitter, and/or transceiver), a locationsensing device 20, a local data store 22 (e.g., RAM, ROM, and/or otherphysically embodied memory devices/computer-readable memory) havingstored thereon data, processor executable instructions (e.g., apps),and/or the like, and a processing device 24 to control the operations ofthe various elements. Generally, the location sensing device 20 providesa location parameter to the processing device 24 and the processingdevice 24 initiates a retrieval of information that has been associatedwith the location parameter from the data repository 12A via the server12 for display in the user interface 16. The location parameter may bean absolute location coordinate, such as a latitude and longitude, arelative location, such as within the vicinity of a known locationcoordinate, and/or a descriptive location, such as the name of alocation. Within the local data store 22 and/or the remote data store12A such location parameters will be cross-referenced to the informationthat is to be retrieved therefrom. It will be additionally appreciatedthat this description is not intended to be limiting. For example itwill be understood that the mobile device 10 may also include a subsetof above-described components, e.g., a display, location sensing device,a processing device, and a transceiver, with the mobile device 10 thenbeing adapted to use information and/or programs stored on otherdevices, such as in a cloud computing environment. An exemplary mobiledevice 10 may therefore also be a pair of “Google” brand glasses.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example implementation of a system for associatinglists of items with a geographical location. In the illustrativeexample, as a mobile device 10 is carried by a user, various means maybe used to determine the location of the mobile device 10. In oneexample, as the user enters a room or other defined area within abuilding, e.g., a boiler room, the location sensing device 20 detects anemission from one or more emitters 30 that are disposed in the vicinityof the room. The detection of the emission from the emitter(s) 30 may beautomatic or the detection may be made in response to a user interactionwith the mobile device 10, for example by the user activating the “mylists” link 300 in the “Grainger” app that is being executed on mobiledevice 10 as illustrated in FIG. 3. In any case, when the emission fromthe emitter(s) 30 is detected, the location sensing device 20 in themobile device 10 notifies the processing device 24 in the mobile device10 that it is in the vicinity of one or more of the emitters 30 that areassociated with the room and the processing device 24 in the mobiledevice can then issue a query, using data received from the emitter(s)30, such as an emitter identifier number or the like, or data that isotherwise cross-referenced to data received from the emitter(s) 30, toone or both of the information sources 12A, 22 for the purpose ofretrieving one or more lists that are associated with the room, e.g.,one or more lists that have been cross-referenced to the data that isrepresentative of the room.

In keeping with this example, the information sources 12A and/or 22 mayprovide a listing of product that has been installed in the presentlocation of the device 10, a listing of product that has been previouslypurchased for use in the present location of the device 10, a listing ofparts for product that has been installed in or purchased for use in thepresent location of the device 10, a listing of product that has beenmanually assigned to the current location of the device 10, a listing ofproduct that has been delivered to/shipped to the present location ofthe device 10, etc. In any case, the information provided, e.g., thelisting of product, parts or the like, will be crossed-referenced withinthe database to data that is indicative of the location, such as alatitude/longitude, an emitter identifier, etc. As shown in FIG. 6, alisting of product may further include one or more pictures 600 of oneor more products, textual item descriptors 602, one or more pictures ofone or more products as installed in the location, links 606 for use inpurchasing product, e.g., to add individual product or all listedproduct to a shopping cart, links to other information related to theproduct and/or location (links to further pictures, data sheets,installation instructions, and other content as desired), links foraccessing product availability/inventory information, links foraccessing shipping and/or pickup information, links for accessing branchinformation, links and/or fields for allowing a user to add notes to thelist, etc. Any such retrieved information will be displayed in the userinterface 16 and user interface elements 604 may be additionallyprovided to allow a user to sort or otherwise filter lists as desired.Any information captured from the user while viewing a displayed listmay be uploaded to and stored in the data repository in association withthe relevant list. Likewise, any information captured from the userwhile in the current location may be uploaded to and stored in the datarepository in association with, i.e., cross-referenced to, theidentifier for the current location.

As noted above, the lists may be manually created, e.g., a user canmanually associate geographical location information (whether absolute,relative, or manually provided) with one or more products and/or productrelated content. The lists may also be automatically created, e.g.,geographical location information can be captured by a mobile devicewhen an order for product is placed and the product can thereafter beincluded in a list that is associated with the captured geographicallocation information. Lists may also be automatically created using shipto or deliver to information and the like without limitation.Information that is included in the lists or otherwise accessible viause of the lists can be user provided information (e.g., informationuploaded to the server 12 and/or locally stored on mobile device 10)and/or vendor provided information as desired.

In addition to providing direct accesses to the aforementioned one ormore lists, it is contemplated that mobile device can use the locationinformation as obtained from the emitter(s) 30 to provide a user withaccess to a floor plan diagram or like. In this manner, a user caninteract with the floor plan diagram, e.g., via the touch screen orgraphical display, to access one or more lists associated with a userspecified location, e.g., a specified room in a facility. In furthercircumstances, the location parameter may also include data indicativeof an orientation or pointing direction of the mobile device 10, sothat, for example, as a user pans around a room subsets of listsassociated with that room may be provided to the user in user interface16, e.g., product included in a circuit breaker box can be shown whenthe mobile device is oriented to face a first wall of a room and productincluded in a water closet can be shown when the mobile device isoriented to face a second wall of the room. In any event, it is to beunderstood that the techniques that are used for presenting text,drawings, images, and associated options in the user interface 16 arecommon to one of ordinary skill in the art, and include for example, theuse of hypertext markup language, HTML, that is used to display pages ofinformation with links to other information or processes.

As concerns orientation/direction of pointing determination, varioustechnologies (used alone or in combination) are contemplated. Forexample, the most common direction sensor is the compass, which is amagnetometer that senses where the strongest magnetic force is comingfrom. This is usually magnetic north. Acceleration methods are rarelyused by themselves to detect orientation, but are frequently combinedwith other sensor data. 3D accelerometers can identify the “down”direction by detecting the pull of gravity (9.8 m/s**2). Given groundingof the “down” direction, and an initial frame of reference fororientation, integrating (summing) once over the acceleration data willproduce a velocity. This method (a type of “dead reckoning”) isimpractical by itself because summing also magnifies error in theacceleration measurements in a relatively short period of time.Rotational (angular) acceleration measurements are useful for detectingturns, but they are error-prone as well, without any other data toprovide periodic correction or location sensing. One way of dealing withthe error accumulation is to place the sensor on a person's shoe. Whenit touches the ground, the inferred acceleration is set to zero, whichzeroes out error accumulation. Accordingly, the system may useacceleration+magnetic measurements, acceleration+wifi locationtracking+maps, and the like. Magnetic measurements combined with 3Daccelerometer data can provide good 3D direction sensing.

Still further, the analysis of 3D accelerometer data can identify the“down” direction by detecting the pull of gravity, which provides aconsistent rate of acceleration, and the measured acceleration (withgravity subtracted) in each direction. Then, the system can calculatethe net acceleration (and angular acceleration for detecting turns), bysubtracting gravity. Then, other measurements can be combined (such aswifi location sensing, maps of the space showing the possible paths oftravel, and the historical trajectory) with accelerometer data toestimate spatial orientation.

It is also contemplated that the system can use sonic location trackingmethods to provide direction sensing as well. The mobile system can emitone or more directed streams of vibrations at sub or supersonicfrequencies (use different frequencies if multiple vibration streams areemitted), and the system can measure the signal strength from multiplemicrophones in the space in the frequency bands corresponding to thevibrations emitted by the mobile device. Given placement of microphoneswhich are most sensitive in a given direction (i.e., notomni-directional microphones), and the location of the mobile device,the system can determine the orientation of the device by the strengthof the signals at different frequencies measured at the differentmicrophones.

Yet further, the system can use direction of arrival methods in whichthe system determines the direction a signal (such as a sound or radiowave) arrives at a location equipped with an array of sensors. This isoften combined with a beamforming technique, which is used to estimatethe signal from a given direction. Using these techniques, the systemcan estimate the direction where the signal (usually sound) originates,relative to the sensor array.

Still further, various statistical methods can be used to determine theprobability of an object being in a particular location, with aparticular orientation. One common method uses the Kalman Filter, whichestimates a current signal value based on another measurement, and theprevious estimated signal value. The technique basically says that theestimated value of a signal that cannot be measured depends on a relatedvalue which can be measured, and the previously estimated values of thatsignal. As a conceptual example, the probability that you will betravelling in the same direction as you were a second ago is usuallyhigh, that is, higher than the probability that you will be travellingin the opposite direction as you were a second ago. Because the systemmay not be able to measure location and direction directly, the systemcan use sensor measurements such as signal strength, magnetic direction,acceleration, etc. This method also assumes that process noise andmeasurement noise are elements of the model of the signal. Manyreferences describe modeling problems as Kalman Filters and manyvariations on this basic model are possible.

It will also be appreciated that the lists presented to the user may bedependent upon other external parameters, such as the time of day, thetime of the year, and the like. For example, a list of product for adiscerned location may be seasonally adjusted, adjusted based on productavailability, etc. Similarly, the lists presented may be based upon acurrent user of the mobile device. For example, a list of product for alocation may be role adjusted (e.g., one list for a user having the rollof an enterprise plumber and one list for another user having the rollof an enterprise electrician). Methods for discerning a user of a mobiledevice, and accordingly their role to the extent such information hasbeen associated with the user within a database, such as log-in methods,biometric methods, etc. are known in the art and need not be describedherein for the sake of brevity.

As further illustrated in FIG. 2, a mobile device 10 may additionally(or alternatively) obtain geographic location information via use of aGPS satellite system 40, cellular phone system 50, or the like withoutlimitation. Furthermore, the user may be provided the option of enteringthe location parameter directly, thereby eliminating the need forbeacons in all or some of the locations. For example, the user interface16 may provide a “location” option, wherein the user enters a location,selects from among a predefined list of named locations, etc.Alternatively, or in addition, the mobile device 10 could contain avoice recognition device, and the user could say the name of a location,such as “boiler room,” “Plant A,” etc., that will be used by the mobiledevice 10 to determine the location parameter. The location sensingsystem could also contain a relative location sensing device such asaccelerometer that is used to determine the movements of the mobiledevice 10 relative to a predefined reference point, such as the locationof building entranceway. In such an embodiment, the mobile device 10determines the location parameter based on movements relative to thereference point. These and other techniques for determining or defininga location parameter and associating it with a physical area or regionare common to one of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example in which a user is presented with aplurality of lists from which the user can select a particular list ofinterest for display as described above. In the illustrated example, theplurality of lists are sorted and displayed based on a currentgeographical location of the mobile device 10, e.g., in a descendingorder from closest to furthest considering the current location of themobile device 10. In further circumstances, the lists to be included inthe presented plurality of lists can be limited to a given number,limited to only those lists within a given distance from the currentlocation of the mobile device 10, e.g., within 50 miles, and the like.It will be appreciated that given locations may also provide access tomultiple lists (e.g. 500 W Madison could have sub lists for 16^(th)floor, 15^(th) floor or by Lighting, Electrical, etc.) A user interfaceelement 400 can be provided to allow for location based searching anduser interface elements 402 and 404 can be provided to allow the user totoggle between a list view as shown in FIG. 4 and a map view as shown inFIG. 5. In the map view of FIG. 5, wherein the map is preferablycentered on the current location of the mobile device 10, a user canlikewise interact with a displayed location, e.g., clicking on a pinplaced on the map, to access the one or more lists associated with thatlocation as described above.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example in which a geographical attributeassociated with a list, particularly a product in a list, isautomatically applied to another system action. For example, in responseto the user adding the “lamp recycling kit” as shown in FIG. 6 to ashopping cart, the geographical location associated with the list whichincludes the “lamp recycling kit” is used to automatically populate theshipping address as shown in FIG. 7. It is similarly contemplated thatthe user's current geographical location could be used to automaticallypopulate a shipping address or to select a pick up branch location,preferably one having stock in inventory, that is closest to the user'scurrent geographical location. Preferably user interface elements areprovided to allow the user to verify and/or edit any such automaticallyapplied actions.

In a further described embodiment, a customer/user selection-guidecontext can be created by using location information to help locate theproducts (or preferred selection options) that have an association withthe location. The system retains mappings between beacon IDs and/or thegeo-coordinates of the beacon, using one of the many popular techniquesto determine location (see the options for location technologies below).The system also supports supplemental location information in the formof metadata, for example, something like “assembly line A,” or whateveris convenient to the user and the system. In this regard, it iscontemplated that products (or selection options) contain metadata whichtell the system which beacons or geographical locations they areassociated with. Then, when the user enters a beacon's range, thesystem's interface presents products which are associated with thatbeacon, and suppresses presentation of products and options which arenot associated with that physical location. Products which are notassociated with a given geographical location, for example, may appeargrayed-out and be rendered un-selectable, or they might not appear atall on the screen. The user can override this usually helpful defaultbehavior when necessary, and view all of the choices. If the user asksto see products which are not associated with that physical location,and then purchases one of these “out-of-bounds” products, the systemlearns that a new product should be associated with that beacon, with acertain level of probability. If users purchase this out-of-boundsproduct again, the system increases the probability that the product isassociated with a given location. When the probability of theassociation increases above a predetermined threshold, and when therequired approvals (if any) have been obtained, the system learns thatthe new product should be associated with the given location, andpresents it to the user, along with the other products which areassociated with this location. This is a form of “active learning,”which keeps the user in the loop, and allows the system to self-correctand adapt to changes.

The system can also un-learn associations as needed. For example, if aproduct has not been purchased within a given amount of time, theprobability that the product is associated with a given locationdecreases. When the probability of association drops below a giventhreshold, the system can disassociate a product with a location. Notethat the product “drop/add” approval process can be automated as well.

The system can also automatically start a location-aware applicationwhen the user enters a geographical area that the application knowsabout (automatic location-aware application execution, or ALAAE). Withthis capability, a user could walk around a facility, and theapplications corresponding to the current location could run and displaythe products or other choices associated with the user's currentlocation. Users can decline the ALAAE and choose manual applicationexecution, as well.

It is also possible to customize the UI to specific user interactionmodalities. The standard desktop interface is preferred to beomniprescent, but hands-free voice interaction could also be useful, andin some cases, a preferred modality. Similarity search via visualexample (a picture of what you want), or sonic example (a recording ofwhat the object sounds like) are helpful and convenient when the user isunable to remember the name of the desired object, or when it is justconvenient to point a camera at the thing you want.

For discerning the location of the user/mobile device, numeroustechnologies, including RFID, Bluetooth Beacons, GPS, 802.11 Wifi,Infrared (IR), and Indoor GPS are contemplated.

Many possibilities exist for incorporating RFID into beacon technology.Passive and active RFID technology can be used for location tracking.RFID systems consist of tags which transmit their IDs to a nearby basestation. Therefore, depending on the type of RFID deployed, the numberand placement of the receivers, the signal strength at the receiver, theRFID frequency, the kinds of antennas incorporated into the tags andreceivers, the range of the specific RFID technology, and environmentalinterference (such as the nearby presence of metal or water), locationestimates can be made based on which receivers detect the presence of atag, and the signal strength at each receiver. If a single receiverdetects a tag, then the system can assume presence of an entity withinthe radius of the detection range, and further limited to the probableradius corresponding to the signal strength. Otherwise, if multiplereceivers detect the signal, the system can triangulate and determine amore accurate location.

Multiple types of RFID exist (active, passive, and blended). In activeRFID, the tags have power, usually batteries on board, and the tagsperiodically transmit. Passive ID tags, in contrast, are not powereduntil they enter the range of their corresponding receiver. The receivergenerates a magnetic field which powers the RFID tags by induction,enabling the RFID tag to transmit a message to the receiver containingat a minimum, the identity of the RFID tag. Blended systems use acombination of the two types of technologies. Passive RFID is by far themost common option.

RFID tags generally operate at a variety of frequencies, including LF(125 Hz), HF (13.56 MHz), UHF (433 MHz, 860-960 MHz), and Microwave(2.45, 5.8 GHz). Band restrictions typically vary by country. Thesedifferent bands have different properties, including range, and theability of the signal to travel through water (note that human bodiesare largely water, and therefore can block signals in some ranges). Notethat metal is hostile to all RFID systems, and should not be present inclose proximity to the RFID readers or tags. Also note that themicrowave RFID band overlaps the band used for 802.11 (2.4 GHz band),and the two technologies could interfere with each other.

The most common way to deploy an RFID system is to have the readersdeployed in fixed locations, with tags attached to people or mobileobjects. In this case, the system estimates the location of taggedobjects based on signal strength and the location(s) of the reader(s)that detected the object. Alternatively, the tags can be deployed atfixed locations in the environment, and a person (or mobile object)moves about the space. In this case, the system estimates the locationof the mobile object based on the location of the tag which mostrecently transmitted its ID.

Bluetooth beacons typically operate via Bluetooth 4.0 (aka Bluetooth LowEnergy), and detect the proximity of close-by Bluetooth app-enableddevices, such as smart phones. When a beacon detects a device that hasthe appropriate app installed on it, and the device user has enabledlocation services on the app and opted in for receiving content, thebeacon system can send location-specific content to the user. Such abeacon-app pairing could deliver product notifications to customers whoare physically close to the product in a store.

Beacon systems typically have three parts. The hardware beaconcontinuously broadcasts a message containing its unique ID (UUID), andtwo other categorical IDs (called a “major” and a “minor”). Typically,this hardware beacon is installed at a fixed location in a building, butit could just as easily be installed on a moving object or given to aperson to carry. Next, the mobile device application (functioning aslistener) searches for beacons with specific UUIDs, major IDs, and minorIDs, and accepts notifications when the device carrying the app getswithin range of the beacon. Optionally, the mobile device application(functioning as beacon) can be a mobile beacon.

Bluetooth operates in the 2.4 GHz band and therefore has the potentialto interfere with 802.11, but the Bluetooth spec mitigates this usingadaptive frequency hopping (AFH) to minimize interference.

The range is application dependent and is not limited by the Bluetoothspecification. Typically, devices fall into implementation classes withdifferent ranges, including class 1 (300 ft), class 2 (33 ft, and themost common class), and class 3 (3 feet).

Users carrying a device enabled with a Bluetooth 4.0 app will trackwhich beacon(s) they are in range of, and, as long as they are in rangeof the particular beacon, they will receive content which is suitablefor their location.

The GPS location tracking technology uses a satellite network andrequires line-of-sight between the tracking device and the satellites.Typically, GPS will not work indoors because buildings and ceilingsblock line-of-sight. GPS also has difficulty outdoors in large cities(because tall buildings block line-of-sight), and in dense, tall,groundcover (because again, objects block line-of-sight).

GPS technology is based on time, and the satellites have built-in,extremely accurate atomic clocks which are synchronized with “true time”kept by ground clocks. A GPS device must acquire 4 satellites, and thenit determines its location by solving for 4 system variables: 3 positioncoordinates and the clock deviation from satellite time. Given origin atthe center of the earth, the satellites each transmit their (x,y,z)position coordinates, and the transmission time of the message,according to the satellite's clock. The device can then determine itslocation by calculating the distance from each of the satellites to thedevice, taking into account the time drift between the on-board deviceclock and the accurate GPS system clock, and using algebraic ornumerical methods.

When both outdoor and indoor positioning are required, GPS can becombined with other location tracking methods. And, GPS can fail over toone of the other tracking methods when a device is indoors.

GPS is becoming ubiquitous, because most cell phones and mobile devicescome equipped with a GPS receiver.

802.11 wireless networking relies on routers to send data betweencomputer networks. These routers communicate with wireless access points(APs) which allow the wireless devices to connect to a wired network.Routers can also incorporate their own AP within the product.

Typical APs can talk to about 30 clients within a radius of about 100meters, but the actual range depends on whether the AP is inside oroutside, and whether the environment has barriers such as walls, trees,buildings, or other signal reflecting and absorbing surfaces.

Location tracking by 802.11 Wifi works by analyzing the received signalstrength (RSSI) of the signals from the APs in range. If a device cansee multiple APs, it can triangulate. Given a well designed network ofAPs in a building, and a reasonable amount of reflective/absorbingsurfaces (such as walls), an average accuracy to approximately a 15-20′square room is expected, although it is possible to do even better.

IR technology is light which is at a longer wavelength (lower frequency)than the human eye can see. It requires line-of-sight contact betweenthe transmitting and receiving device, and is typically modulated at 38kHz for transmission. It also has a very low average error rate. Thereceiver demodulates the signal and transforms it into a serial bitstream. The IR range depends on implementation, especially power levels,and typically ranges from about 0.2 m to several meters. The InfraredData Association (IrDA) provides specifications that govern IRcommunication.

A low-technology solution to location tracking is the use of barcodes.It requires 1) installation of a set of barcode readers in strategic,known locations, and 2) presentation of the tracked tag to the reader(as is currently done when tracking inventory down a conveyer belt, orat a price-check station in a retail store). The system can know that anasset was at a specific location at a specific time, and can observeprevious trajectory, and even predict future trajectory based onanalysis of prior data, and heuristics.

Cameras in an environment with detection software can identify peopleand objects and place them in the context of their sensed range,particularly when the system has a map of the space. Cameras are oftenused with other sensing modalities to detect presence, identity, andlocation of people or other entities. Cameras and microphones,cameras/accelerometers/compass, and cameras with RFID are examples ofmultiple sensing modalities which use cameras.

The system can locate mobile objects via sound, as well. The mobilesystem can emit vibrations at sub or supersonic frequencies, andmicrophones in the environment can record data at those frequencies.Given proper placement of the microphones in a space, the system cantriangulate and determine location by signal strength. These methods mayhave to compensate for noisy environments, to subtract out anybackground noise in that frequency band.

Systems using blended technologies are also contemplated. For example,an active RFID tag could transmit its information according to the802.11 spec, and a thin layer of Access Point (AP) resident softwarecould capture the RSSI (received signal strength) associated with thetag, and a timestamp, and forward that data along to a central serverfor processing. When a single AP sees the RSSI at a given time, you caninfer a location within a radial distance of the given AP. When multipleAPs can see the RSSI, then you can triangulate in real time to determinelocation. You can also take into account the recent history of thetrajectory of motion, and the probability of future trajectories ofmotion. Many other blended combinations are possible, as are modaloperations, when a system switches over to the most appropriate trackingtechnology for the situation (e.g. GPS is great outdoors but does notwork well indoors).

In an example use case, a customer has three buildings for which theyperform facilities maintenance. Each building was constructedindependently by different construction companies, and was outfittedwith different equipment, for example, lighting systems. When a customerwalks into the first building and sees that he needs to replace somefluorescent lamps, the system knows the location of that building,detects that the customer is there, and allows his application, in thiscase, the Lamp Selection Guide, to operate in a mode optimized for thecustomer and his current location.

The Lamp Selection Guide has access to the local or remote databasewhich has the mappings of lamps to location, and the Lamp SelectionGuide uses this information to highlight only the products which areassociated with that location. The products may be grayed out andselectable, grayed out and not selectable, or not displayed. The tablesshown in FIGS. 8-10 show how the essential information may be organizedin a database for use in the described system. Many other designs arepossible.

In keeping with this example, when a user searches for replacement lampsin Building 1 (which uses only 25 different kinds of lamps), only theparameters corresponding to those 25 lamps are selectable in theselection guide interface during iterative parameter selections. Thismeans that products can be located with the personalized, location-awarelamp selection guide much more quickly than with the complete lampselection guide that displays the entire list of 5,000 lamps which thevendor sells. Thereafter, when the same customer moves to a differentbuilding (for example, Building 2), the lighting selection guide seesand recognizes Beacon 2, automatically asks for the list of lampsassociated with that location, and displays only the list of 48 lampsthat are installed in Building 2. The customer can move from building tobuilding, and the lighting selection guide will present only theinformation the customer needs at each location.

By way of further example, FIGS. 21 and 22 shows how a selection guideapplication can limit user interaction to the products associated with aspecific location. Note that the application also displays only therelevant product details associated with these products. For example, ifa particular location only buys tube-shaped fluorescent lamps that emitblue light, the selection guide will not present options for selectingstandard household lightbulbs, bulbs which emit yellow light, lamps withvoltages not supported by the fluorescent products, or halogen bulbs.This kind of restriction on the user interface is particularly helpfulwhen a selection guide uses a navigational or faceted search paradigm.FIG. 21 shows a portion of a complete selection guide having anon-location restricted set of options while FIG. 22 shows a portion ofgeo-aware selection guide having a location restricted set of option,e.g., for Building A.

In a further example, a large factory manufactures earth movingequipment. Different parts of the factory manufacture different piecesof equipment, and each part of the factory has a physical tool cribwhich stores parts consumed or used during the manufacturing process(e.g., drill bits and fasteners) at that location. Note that eachmanufacturing area has its own location tracking beacon (or network ofbeacons) which cover the range of the its corresponding manufacturingarea. As a purchasing entity moves between tool cribs using a drill bitor fastener selection guide, only the parameters of the products whichare used at each physical tool crib show up in the drill bit or fastenerselection guide. If the Selection Guide App detects signals frommultiple locations, the strongest signal will be selected. In addition,the location tracking system will implement error correction mechanismsthat prevent momentary glitches or jitter in the location tracking.

In a further example, the system can use the mobile device's compass,acceleration data, and/or prior travelling trajectory to discern adirection within a room or building. For example, the north side of atool crib could have lighting products in it, the south side, machinelubricants, the east side small tool supplies like drill bits, and thewest side, widgets. When a person enters the room with the appropriateselection guide app, the selection guide app detects the orientation ofthe device and the probable direction that the person is facing. Then,the selection guide can present the objects associated with thedirection of orientation within the room or building as illustratedbelow. Note that the application performing the search can be somethinglike the selection guide we use in this example, or a more generalsearch engine. Note that when the user faces different directions, thesystem may respond by running different applications or by restrictingthe interactions allowed by default in an existing application. Forexample, when the user faces north, the system could run a specializedlighting selection guide. In contrast, when the user faces east, thesystem could instead run a more generalized selection guide (and limitthe selection options available to the user to the relevant lubricants)because the number and complexity of available lubricants is smaller andlower.

In a further embodiment, a purchasing manager may want to buy fastenersfor each tool crib in a large factory. The purchasing manager can selecta geo-location from a list and simulate being physically present at eachlocation, each geo-location parameter selected causing the selectionguide to launch and act as if the purchasing manager were physicallypresent at a given location.

In some cases, the user might want to select products associated withmore than one beacon, or location. For example, a factory hasspecialized tool cribs for 3 different operations (Operations A, B, andC with corresponding Tool Cribs A, B, and C), but stocks common items ina shared tool crib (Tool Crib D). In this case, a user in the OperationA section of the factory would want to see items stocked in both ToolCribs A and D. In this scenario, the range of Beacon D covers the entirefactory, and is associated with the tools which are stocked in Tool CribD, and are available to all operations. When a user enters Section B ofthe factory, the system will display products and product options whichare associated with both Beacons B and D.

In a still further example illustrated below, a customer servicerepresentative services multiple locations. To simplify and personalizethe selection guide to the customer service representative, the customerrepresentative may either wear a beacon, or can carry a device which ishas built-in beacon transmission capability. In the event that the userwears a beacon, the selection guide detects the wearable beacon tag,along with any other beacons in the environment. The system associatesthis mobile tag with a specific person or role, and in turn, withpreferred products/selections and product/selection options in the datastore. This way, a user's selection guide can present optionspersonalized with both users and locations.

In the event that the user's device is equipped with beacon transmissioncapability, then any listening applications in the environment will knowwho has entered the space, and in what role they are present. The systemcan determine a user's role by mapping the combination of the identityof the mobile beacon, the application which is running on the devicecarrying the beacon, and the user's location. For example, the systemcan infer that a customer service representative running the LightingSelection Guide who is present in a tool crib is there to take inventoryand/or replenish the lighting stock in the tool crib, and can presentinformation and make service requests accordingly.

While various embodiments of the invention have been described indetail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and alternatives to those details could be developed inlight of the overall teachings of the disclosure. For example, whiledescribed in the context of lists of product, it will be appreciatedthat the geographically based lists of items could be lists of services,e.g., a list of renewable warranty services for product at a givengeographical location, a list of preferred service technicians forproduct at a given geographical location, etc., and/or other informationsuch as images of product, product installations, etc., notes, inventoryin the vicinity of a given geographical locations, and the like withoutlimitation. In addition, the system can operate in “blended” mode, withmobile and stationary beacons in the environment. In such a system, anapplication can both listen for beacons in the environment and announceits presence to others. Furthermore, the described embodiments are notintended to be viewed in isolation and one or more aspects of thedescribed embodiments can be used together as needed for any particularpurpose. Accordingly, the particular arrangements disclosed are meant tobe illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the inventionwhich is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and anyequivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for using a mobile device to provideaccess to at least one list of product related items, comprising:determining a geographic location of the mobile device; causing aselection guide to be presented on the mobile device and using thedetermined geographic location to inhibit the use of one or moreselectable entries of the selection guide; receiving from the selectionguide a specification of one or more characteristics of a product ofinterest; using the specified one or more characteristics to retrievefrom a data store information related to at least one product; andcausing the mobile device to display in a user interface the informationrelated to the at least one product.
 2. The method as recited in claim1, wherein the mobile device determines a geographic location of themobile device via use of data obtained from a GPS satellite system. 3.The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the mobile device determines ageographic location of the mobile device via use of data obtained fromone or more signaling beacons.
 4. The method as recited in claim 1,wherein the one or more selectable entries of the selection guide areinhibited by being removed from the selection guide.
 5. The method asrecited in claim 1, wherein the one or more selectable entries of theselected guide are inhibited by making the one or more selectableentries non-interactive.
 6. The method as recited in clam 1, furthercomprising determining an orientation of the mobile device at thedetermined geographic location of the mobile device and using thedetermined orientation of the mobile device and the determinedgeographic location to inhibit the use of one or more selectable entriesof the selection guide.
 7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein themobile device determines a geographic location of the mobile device viause of data obtained from a GPS satellite system.
 8. The method asrecited in claim 6, wherein the mobile device determines a geographiclocation of the mobile device via use of data obtained from one or moresignaling beacons.
 9. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the oneor more selectable entries of the selection guide are inhibited by beingremoved from the selection guide.
 10. The method as recited in claim 6,wherein the one or more selectable entries of the selected guide areinhibited by making the one or more selectable entries non-interactive.11. The method as recited in clam 1, further comprising determining anidentity of a user of the mobile device at the determined geographiclocation of the mobile device and using the determined identity of theuser of the mobile device and the determined geographic location toinhibit the use of one or more selectable entries of the selectionguide.
 12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the mobile devicedetermines a geographic location of the mobile device via use of dataobtained from a GPS satellite system.
 13. The method as recited in claim11, wherein the mobile device determines a geographic location of themobile device via use of data obtained from one or more signalingbeacons.
 14. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the one or moreselectable entries of the selection guide are inhibited by being removedfrom the selection guide.
 15. The method as recited in claim 11, whereinthe one or more selectable entries of the selected guide are inhibitedby making the one or more selectable entries non-interactive.